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Sunday, October 11, 2015

I've arrived in Tulsa for the ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed, but before that coverage begins on Monday, there's a lot to catch up on from today's finals. I'll keep this brief, due to the lateness of the hour, but that's not to diminish any of the accomplishments.

Taylor Fritz won the $100,000 Sacramento Challenger Sunday, beating No. 7 seed Jared Donaldson 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Fritz, a 17-year-old wild card, playing in just his second ATP Challenger, continued his pattern of saving break points, fighting off 15 of 16 in today's match against the 19-year-old Donaldson. Fritz, who saved 34 of 37 break points during the week, is the youngest American Challenger champion since Donald Young won Aptos, also at 17 years and 11 months, back in 2007. Ranked 694 before this week, the title moves Fritz up 355 spots to 339 and he received a special exemption into next week's $50,000 Challenger in Fairfield, California.

Danielle Collins of Virginia won the ITA/Riviera Women's All-American championship in Pacific Palisades, California, with the No. 7 seed defeating Sinead Lohan of Miami 6-1, 6-2 in the final. The 2014 NCAA champion didn't lose a set all week, and as was the case in her Oracle Masters title, her toughest test came from Maegan Manasse of Cal in the semifinals. As she was with her NCAA victory, Collins is the first Virginia woman to win the title.

Manasse picked up the doubles title with Denise Starr, with the No. 2 seeds beating unseeded Whitney Kay and Hayley Carter of North Carolina 6-1, 6-4.

The men's All-American final in Tulsa will be played on Monday, with another Cavalier looking for a Virginia sweep. No. 3 seed Thai Kwiatkowski defeated No. 9 seed Tom Fawcett of Stanford 6-3, 6-2 to reach the singles final, where he'll face No. 4 seed Dominik Koepfer of Tulane. Koepfer beat No. 9 seed Andre Goransson of Cal 6-4, 6-4. Kwiatkowski and Mac Styslinger, No. 5 seeds, will also be playing in the doubles final, against unseeded Robert Kelly and Brett Clark of North Carolina.

Collins won the inaugural Oracle Masters last month, and the men's champion, Cameron Norrie of TCU, also claimed another title today. Norrie, as a qualifier, won the $15,000 Mansfield, Texas Futures, beating Alexios Halebian 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 in the final. The sophomore from New Zealand had reached one Futures final previously, but this was his first singles title.

Top seeds Hans Hach of Mexico and Eric Quigley won the doubles title, beating unseeded Liam Broady of Great Britain and Ashley Fisher of Australia 7-5, 6-3 in the final.

Seventeen-year-old Alexa Graham also won her first title today, taking the $10,000 Hilton Head singles championship with a 6-4, 7-6(5) win over No. 2 seed Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway. Graham, the top seed, had lost in the finals of ITF $10,000 tournaments twice this year.

The draws for the Pan American Closed are out, with Canada's Benjamin Sigouin No. 1 in the boys field, and Usue Arconada No. 1 in the girls field. There are quite a few enticing matchups in the first round, but none better than the Alexandre Rotsaert(6) and Oliver Crawford contest. The draws and order of play are available at the ITF junior website.